New principal brings kids out of their shell

• Published date: 23 February 2022
• Author: Ilona Hanne
• Publication title: Stratford Press

Dave Smith has been appointed principal of St Joseph’s School in Stratford on a one-year fixed term contract, and to the delight of the pupils there, that means turtles Phantom and Victoria are now hanging out in one of the classrooms

Turtles, says Dave, are a great help when it comes to reading, writing and even arithmetic.

“Turtles don’t judge you. So if a child is struggling to read, or doesn’t want to read out loud in class, they may be happy to read to the turtles, because they won’t mind if you get a word or two wrong or don’t know the answer to something.”

When it comes to the classic question children face of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’, Dave says he knew the answer for himself early on.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, right back to when I was at high school in Stratford, teaching was what I wanted to do in life.”

Dave doesn’t mean Stratford High when he talks about his old high school; the school he attended is nearly 18,550 kilometres away from here, in Stratford-upon-Avon.

That school — King Edward VI, commonly known as King’s New School — is famous for being where a certain William Shakespeare learned “small Latin...